Iranian officials have said that progress in talks has been made but that a deal is not ‘imminent.’
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on May 25 that President Donald Trump will not accept a “bad deal” with Iran as the two sides continue to negotiate.
Rubio warned that unless the agreement is good for the United States, Trump will move to resolve the issue “another way,” hinting at the possibility of renewed attacks.
Rubio’s remarks, made during a media briefing in India, came amid reports that an agreement to end the Iran standoff has been largely negotiated, with Trump saying that America’s relationship with Iran was becoming “much more professional and productive” but that care must be taken in the final stretch of talks to ensure the deal is “right.”
“The President said he’s not in a hurry. He’s not going to make a bad deal,” Rubio said. “Let’s see what happens. We’re going to give diplomacy every chance to succeed before we explore the alternatives.”
While the terms of the agreement currently being hashed out remain unclear, much of the talks have focused on Iran’s nuclear program and on Tehran’s restrictions in the Strait of Hormuz, which have sent prices of oil and other key commodities soaring.
Trump’s latest signal on the status of the talks came in the form of a May 24 post on Truth Social, which featured an image of a bomb attached to an airplane, apparently ready to drop.
The president preceded the bomb post with a post insisting that the deal with Iran—if it is ultimately reached—would be a “good and proper one,” including blocking Iran’s path to acquiring a nuclear weapon.
Nuclear Issue
Preventing Iran from getting nuclear arms has been a key objective of the Trump administration. After bombing Iran’s nuclear facilities in Operation Midnight Hammer last year, the United States has pushed to secure and remove from the country any remaining enriched uranium, presumed to have been hit by the blasts and entombed deep underground.
It remains unclear whether the enriched uranium, which Trump has referred to as “nuclear dust,” would be part of the agreement that is currently being considered. While Trump has focused his rhetoric on preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons rather than on the uranium stockpile itself, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on May 24 that he considers eliminating Iran’s “nuclear danger” as removing the enriched material from its territory.
By Tom Ozimek
